Grenfell Tower: Government announces independent review into building regulations and fire safety

Labour and fire safety experts say announcement is ‘welcome but long overdue’

The aim is to publish a final report by spring 2018 and an interim report before the close of the year (Reuters)

The Government will carry out an independent review into building regulations and fire safety after serious questions were raised about the potential role of flammable cladding in the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

A nationwide testing scheme has already been rolled out to determine the safety of materials fitted to high-rise blocks but the latest move will also look at whether current building legislation is fit for purpose.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said the Government was “determined” to “learn the lessons from the Grenfell Tower fire” as the tests revealed at least 82 high-rise blocks around the country did not meet fire safety standards.

But Labour and fire safety experts said the review was “long overdue” and should have been carried out after cladding was implicated in the Lakanal House fire that killed six people.

Shadow housing minister John Healey said: “The long-awaited review of buildings regulations and fire safety is welcome but long overdue, as Ministers promised this four years ago after the last fatal high-rise fires.

“The Government must also now expand the testing programme, publish results in full so that residents and landlords know whether or not their buildings are safe and stand by their earlier promise to help fund the costs of any necessary work.”

Niall Rowan, chief operations officer for the Association for Specialist Fire Protection, said the announcement was “welcome but too late” to prevent the Grenfell tragedy.

“If the Lakanal House review had been taken into account then the Grenfell Tower fire would have been a lot less severe,” he told The Independent.

“That’s why many in the fire sector are very angry because this should not have happened – it’s welcome but it’s too late.”

Mr Rowan said the fire warranted a period of “reflection and introspection” from the Government as to why a review was not undertaken earlier.

But Mr Javid vowed the Government was working to ensure “nothing like it can happen again”.

“Since the tragic Grenfell Tower disaster, the Government has been working to make sure people living in high rise buildings are safe,” he said.

“It’s clear we need to urgently look at Building Regulations and fire safety. This independent review will ensure we can swiftly make any necessary improvements. Government is determined to make sure that we learn the lessons from the Grenfell Tower fire, and to ensure nothing like it can happen again.”

The probe is to be led by Dame Judith Hackitt and will report to Mr Javid and Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Dame Judith will aim to publish a final report by spring 2018 and an interim report before the end of the year, according to the announcement.

The scope of the probe is to be set by this summer, the Government said, after the terms of reference for the Grenfell Tower public inquiry are established.

Dame Judith said: “I am honoured to be asked by Government to lead this important independent review. This review will look at Building Regulations and fire safety to see what changes can be made for the future to make these more effective.

“I am keen to engage widely with industry and the public to inform the recommendations from the review. I want the recommendations to lead to any necessary improvements in the system being made.”

The Government also revealed 82 towers had failed a new fire safety test that scrutinises the combination of cladding and insulation.

It is the first raft of more comprehensive assessments following a wave of tests that saw hundreds of cladding samples fail standards for flammability in recent months.

But Mr Healey said the Government testing programme was “too slow” and “too confused” and urged ministers to get a “grip of this post-Grenfell crisis”.

It comes as police investigating the fire concluded there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the council’s tenant management organisation committed corporate manslaughter.

Chiefs from both organisations will be formally interviewed by officers as part of the criminal investigation into the tragedy that claimed at least 80 lives.